They beat out high school teams around New Jersey, Delaware and New York for the prize.
PRINCETON - West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South is becoming the high school to beat.
On Saturday they took home the first place high school honor in the 23rd New Jersey Regional Science Bowl, hosted by the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL).
It's the second year in a row that the school has won the honor, which allows them to go to Washington D.C. to compete in the national science bowl.
The regional science bowl, which was held Friday and Saturday, saw teams of middle and high school students from New York, Delaware and across New Jersey traveling to Princeton for the competition.
Team members worked together to answer a series of science questions, quickly - something that West Windsor team captain Dhruva Byrapatna said could make the competition stressful.
"You have to be the one to calm everyone down," Byrapatna said, adding that he was both relieved and proud of his winning team.
West Windsor Plainsboro-South was the second school to take first place in the two-day competition.
On Friday, William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge took home the middle school win with Princeton Charter School and John Witherspoon Middle School coming in second and third, respectively.
On Saturday West Windsor was followed by Millburn High School in second place and Princeton High School in third.
For organizers of the science bowl, the day is one filled with pride.
"It went flawlessly," Deedee Ortiz-Arias, head of the Science Education Department at PPPL, said Saturday.
"It was a proud moment for me.... We need these smart kids. We need future scientists and engineers."
It was a proud moment for the students as well. Many of them spent weeks leading up to the competition, studying in teams and taking practice tests.
"I'm still feeling kind of in shock," Jamie You, a senior and member of the winning West Windsor team said. She added that the win "capped off" the end of her high school experience.
"Today really proves to me the intellectual strengths of my teammates... I'm really impressed by everyone."
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.